The Murders of the Roxbury Gang’s Own Members- WALTER BENNETT

Walter Bennett, Wimpy’s brother, was last seen by his wife on April 4, 1976 when he left his home in his sister’s 1966 Green Impala.  Wimpy had been missing for four months by the time of Walter’s disappearance.

Walter was supposedly a big earner for the Mafia. He had a partnership with Larry Baione’s brother at one point, but bad blood developed between them. He owned Walter’s Lounge on Dudley Street outside of Uphams Corner and a television repair shop in the building across the street. Uphams Corner was renowned for the Uphams Corner Theater which we called the Uppies..

As a kid, I went to the Uppies from Old Harbor Village in South Boston walking up Colombia Road. Admission was either nine cents or eleven cents which is all our parents could spare on a Saturday afternoon. That is where I saw my first calvary charge. I thrilled to the sound of the calvary bugle call in the movies. The theater full of kids would erupt into wild cheers of delight as the calvary charged forward to rescue the wagon train.

The theater was located on one level. Running down each side was a ramp separated from the seats by a four-foot-high wall. It opened in the early 1940s. The ramps were probably required by the fire authorities so the exits next to the screen could be easily accessed. Around that time Boston suffered the deadliest nightclub fire in history at the Coconut Grove restaurant where 492 lives were lost.

We only had enough money for admission. There was one kid, Albie J., who had enough money to buy popcorn, a big drink and candy. He lived near us. He refused to share any of his food. How the rest of us kids envied him.

Uphams Corner also had a more elaborate theater called the Strand. The Strand was the place to go if you could afford it. I couldn’t afford the Strand until my teen-age years. It had a great balcony. Stories were told of all sorts of titillating events that were supposed to have happened there but probably never did. The Strand still stands the last time I drove by there while the Uppies was torn down many years ago.

Walter was a good father. He had supper every night with the family and would cook them breakfast every morning. His first wife Eileen G. (Coburn) Bennet died on September 26, 1962. The obituary said she was of Grove Street and the mother of seven kids: “Mrs. Charles Harris, William, Francine, Patricia, Nancy, Linda and Joan Bennett.” Between her death and his murder, he married Barbara Nutly. She apparently had six kids that Walter adopted. It was reported at the time of his death he was the father of 13 kids.

Three of his daughters many years later told an interviewer how much they suffered when their father disappeared. They still have no idea what happened to him. They said no one seemed to care. They said the only FBI agent who visited them was John Connolly.  According to them he tried to convince them that Gerry Angiulo murdered their father.

It sounds like a good story as Connolly was the handler of Flemmi so it was supposed that Connolly would try to cover for Flemmi. But in the context of the dates, it makes no sense. Connolly did not join the FBI until 1968. That was a year after Walter was murdered. He did not come to Boston until 1972. He did not pick up Flemmi as an informant until 1973 or 1974. By 1973, their father’s disappearance was old forgotten news to all but them.

Connolly would have had no interest in reviving speculation about their father’s murder. It is more likely they confused Connolly with Condon or some other FBI agent who might have come to their home shortly after Walter disappeared. Even if some police agencies were still working on the disappearance in 1973, which given the times I suggest is unlikely, no body was ever found which would have compounded the difficulties of solving it.

Despite what seems to me the wrong recollection of the daughters, one does see the trauma these murders inflict on the families. We rarely hear of the kids other than that the victim may have had some. The daughters put a human face on their suffering when they tell how any time a strange car was parked in the yard, they thought “Daddy’s home. Daddy’s come back.”  The total disastrous impact on a child grows as the child’s fears grow. Do they think that if they murdered my dad, they could also murder me?

Being a good father does not equate with being a good guy. Walter Bennett was not a good guy. A report in 1950, shows Walter was arrested along with his brother William on July 27 in a raid. They had about 9000 horse and number pool slips. They were put on probation and fined.

Walter’s Lounge was described as follows: “Back in 1966 . . . the lounge was a lively crossroads for the criminal elite of the city, a place with a jukebox, bar, go-go girls and a live band for dancing in the evenings; a place where plots were hatched for everything from house burglary to Murder One. And when the 1 a.m. closing time came at the lounge, the rogues could always repair to Walter’s after-hours joint, which was upstairs in the apartment house directly across Dudley street.”

Walter’s Lounge attracted bad happenings. That lounge at 709 Dudley Street was where 19-year-old Kathryn Murphy had gone with her girlfriends the night she was murdered in June 1966. It was referred to as a “rock ‘n’ roll establishment.” Another article many years later said both Wimpy and Walter ran a bookmaking and loansharking operation out of there.

William Geraway, indicted for and acquitted of the murder of Tony “Junior” Veranis, was also indicted for the murder of David Sidlauskas, which occurred in April 1967. Geraway was convicted of first-degree murder of Sidlauskas. During that trial, a witness testified: “Geraway said that he had been at Walter’s After-Hours Club in Roxbury and “had a fight with the guy… [who] pulled a knife.” He took the man to Moon Island on the pretext that “there was some money dumped there.”

That was not the only connection between Geraway and Walter’s Lounge and Walter Bennett. Geraway testified in November 1967 at the trial of John Sweet as noted above about the meeting Walter there who offered him $5,000 to murder Charles Van Maxcy.

Once it became clear that Wimpy was most likely murdered and not coming back, the word on the street was Walter had started to round up some guys to take revenge. That was probably unlikely. Walter was a  criminal but not known to be a shooter like his brother Wimpy. He would have had only a vague guess at who murdered Wimpy so how could he take revenge.

The Boston Mafia was ready, though. It had already eliminated one of the Irish guys, it had to complete the job. According to Gaga before the members of the Mafia could hit Walter it had to get the approval of “Little Joe Peppino.” The only Joe Peppino I had heard of was Joseph “Don Peppino” Profaci, the head of one of the Mafia families in New York City. He would have no connection with what happened in Boston, so I was confused. Then I read further that Little Joe owned three bars in Boston on Essex Street and Chancy Street. I assume he was part of the Boston Mafia group who could give such an okay. Gaga said they needed the approval because Walter had young children.

There is an absence of evidence concerning Walter’s actions or knowledge regarding his brother’s murder. He did not appear to worry that he was in danger. He carried on as he had always done.

Frank Salemme would tell a story how he met his demise: “We lured Walter to the garage to a meeting with me at six o’clock one night. Peter Poulos drove him to the garage, and I had a big door that you press a button to open, it was a huge garage, and he drove in and walked up the stars to the office. Steve was waiting at the end of the stairs and shot him.” So according to Salemme, the murder happened around six p.m.

His story sounds believable because of the added detail. But, is it? Other facts point to its falsehood. Flemmi tells a different story how it happened putting the murder on Salemme. The Salemme story starts to fall apart because of the time factor. Walter’s wife, Barbara, reported to the police that Walter left the house on Tuesday April 4 at 10:30 p.m. and had not been seen since. How does that square with Salemme account that he had gone to his garage at 6:00 p.m. on April 4?  When Salemme told the police where he buried the bodies out in Hopkinton, a search of that area did not support his statements.

At 10:30 p.m. Walter left his home in his sister’s 1966 green Chevrolet Impala. Obviously, he was murdered that night. It is clear though that Salemme’s version is not the true story of his murder. How he was murdered must remain a mystery. Why he was murdered is more understandable. No one could take the chance that Walter might figure it out and hire some associates to act against those who did it. Just like you don’t leave witnesses to a murder around, you also try to eliminate those who might be intent on revenge.